Abstract: Apparatus for stripping an anode block, or butt, from an anode assembly used in aluminum smelting includes a conveyor having a carrier from which the anode assembly is suspended and a stripping station on the path of travel of the conveyor. At the stripping station, the support of the anode assembly is transferred from the carrier to an anvil which is mounted in the path of movement of the anode assembly so as to be engageable by the yoke portion thereof. The transfer is accomplished by lowering the carrier and anode assembly on a lift section of the conveyor, stabilizing the anode assembly against longitudinal and transverse swinging movements, and forwarding the carrier and the anode assembly along the lift section to a stripping position by a feeding device, the yoke of the anode assembly engaging an upwardly inclined ramp surface on the anvil during this forwarding movement and thereby transferring the weight of the anode assembly from the carrier to the anvil.

Abstract: An overhead power and free conveyor system in which a carrier is propelled along a portion of the carrier track of the system in the conventional manner by a pusher on a driven chain engaging a driving dog on the carrier. The carrier is propelled along another portion of the carrier track of this system by a self-propelled tractor, with provision for transferring a carrier from one of these forms of propulsion to another. Preferably, the tractor travels on the carrier track when propelling a carrier or a train of carriers, which may be directly coupled to the tractor. Alternately, the tractor travels on the carrier track and pulls a tow bar, supported by a separate track, and equipped with a pusher engageable with the carrier driving dog.